A Tribute to Chris Mikkelson

We want to celebrate Chris, who has worked for Jesus Vegans Community as a paid employee for 9 months when we first started. I, Trish, (his mom) have worked with him the most as we worked together on every aspect of getting a start-up organization off the ground. I felt incredibly blessed to have his help. He has been a valuable asset to our team.

Without Chris, this project would not have the momentum that it has gained.

Our funding for a full-time worker has run out, and Chris is ready to move on to seek work in another field because veganism is not his passion and our company is still small. Fortunately, he has helped us get to a point where we can move forward without him. In a sense, he has worked himself out of a job!We will miss him, and we also wish him the very best.

When I first started Jesus Vegans Community, I really needed help! I work so much better with someone. Chris had just ended his masters degree program, and needed work. So we hired him! He was the perfect person to do the variety of things we needed to have done, including setting up a website (Nationbuilder.com), coordinating our sociall media (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Youtube) and helping me get focused and organized. He fulfilled the expectations I had because we have worked together on other projects with great success. and after all, I have helped raise him!

ONe of the things I love about Chris is his willingness to be flexible. Sometimes we needed physical work like chainsaw work, gardening projects or weedwacking. Most of the time I needed him in the office where we spent most of our time. His ability to learn new things, and then teach me those new things, was instrumental in helping us have a web presence that inspires more and more people to support us in various ways

Along with his many talents using the computer (his graphic design work was so great!) he helped coordinate our permaculture design consultants, Tas Zinck and Chase Jones. He facilitated meetings, and held down the fort when. was gone on a six week trip to Berkeley. I knew I could trust him to get the work done, and he did. He is true team player, and was instrumental in helping to resolve some conflicts that came up.

He is also an impressive problem solver and manages to foster positive discussions with others who work with us and myself. I am not the easiest person to work with because I have so many ideas and we have changed directions so many times. We have always wanted to be focused on Jesus and Vegans, but the process of really finding out who we are was not always easy. Chris has a natural talent for asking questions that helped me to clarify the essentials: tag line, mission, goals, and values.

I hope and pray that Chris will find a fulfilling job where his multitude of talents can be utilized to the maximum.

Here is a video where he describes his work at Jesus Vegans. Chris edited this video himself.